Live to Rise
by RunBabyRun8312
Summary: Avengers AU - When the Tesseract is stolen, Fury assembles a team to get it back from Loki, including Phil Coulson/Captain America, Melinda May/Black Widow, Leo Fitz/Iron Man, Jemma Simmons/Hulk, Grant Ward/Hawkeye, and the Asgardian goddess Skye.
1. The Tesseract

The helicopter landed in front of Agent Phil Coulson. His tie blew in the wind from the propellers. Director Fury and Deputy Director Hill stepped out before him.

"How bad is it?" Fury demanded.

"That's the problem, sir," Coulson replied, "We don't know."

The three agents headed down to where the Tesseract was being held. Fury told Hill to help evacuate technicians and equipment and then he and Coulson went to find out exactly what was going on. Dr. Selvig and his team were hurrying about the massive underground warehouse and checking machines.

"Talk to me, Doctor."

"Tesseract is misbehaving," Selvig answered.

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

While Fury and Selvig went on, Coulson looked at the blue cube in the middle of the room. He didn't like having to be near it too much. The Tesseract had been found with his body, deep in the ocean. Coulson had died on a mission, casting his aircraft into the sea to draw some very hostile enemies away from his team while they escaped. The discovery of the wreckage and the Tesseract sent an excited buzz around SHIELD. Coulson was resuscitated and made stronger by a special serum, though you couldn't tell by looking at him. Long before the fateful mission that left him dead, Phil Coulson had earned himself the nickname "Captain America" from his colleagues in Mexico, where he had been stationed for quite some time and had barely mastered conversational Spanish. The name had stuck as stories of Coulson butchering simple phrases spread like wildfire through SHIELD and after he was brought back to life, they had given him a star-spangled suit and the official title of Captain America, probably as some sort of peace offering for the shock he had gone into after waking up. The suit was left in storage, though, because Coulson preferred his classic suit to the tight red, white, and blue one that was extremely difficult to wriggle into. He had gone back to his regular work, despite insistence from Fury that he could do so much more with the power given to him from the serum, and the Tesseract was being used to harvest energy from space. It seemed like a great find, but Coulson often wondered if he and the cube should have been left dead in the sea, especially as he heard Selvig describe how the object was "misbehaving". Fury asked where Agent Ward was and that was when he remembered that he had not seen him.

"Ward? Looking up at the sky, as usual," Selvig huffed.

_More like looking _for _Skye,_ Coulson thought. Fury called Ward down. The agent left his perch from the catwalk by the only window in the lab and joined the director.

"Was it a mistake putting you on this detail, Agent Ward?" Fury asked.

"Sir, I have been watching every little thing that has been going on in this lab. There is nothing left to do. If there was any tampering, it wasn't on this end."

"_At this end?_"

Ward took a deep breath. "I know I'm not a scientist, but I understand that the cube is a doorway to the other end of space. Doors open from both sides."

Suddenly, the Tesseract sent a thunderous shake throughout the entire SHIELD facility. Light filled the underground warehouse, blinding the scientists and agents. A beam shot out of the cube and formed some sort of portal. As the brightness dissipated, they could hear the heavy breathing of someone new in the room. He stands where the portal had been opened, grinning maliciously in his tight black and green outfit. His eyes glistened through his dark, sleek hair. A scepter glowed in his hand.

Fury stepped forward. "Sir, please put down the spear."

Like _that_ was going to happen. Rather than do as Fury said, the stranger pointed the spear at the agents and an explosion of blue fired towards them. Ward tackled Fury in one direction while Coulson dove in the other, all of them narrowly missing the shot. Guards started to fire on the mystery man, but no bullet touched him. Ward was close, so he stood and pulled out his gun. The man noticed and walked right in front of the barrel pointed at him.

"Ah, Agent Ward, her handsome human," he sneered, looking directly into Ward's eyes, "You have heart."

He touched the tip of his scepter to Ward's chest and the agent's eyes filled with black. Ward put his gun away and stood straight at attention. While the man used his device on more agents, Fury and Coulson were trying to get the Tesseract out of there.

"Please don't. I still need that," the intruder said absently behind them.

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury replied.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"Loki?" Selvig questioned, "Brother of Skye?"

_That was how he knew Ward,_ Coulson realized. Agent Ward had been stationed in New Mexico when the mysterious hammer fell from the sky. He had seen the stranded Asgardian goddess fight her way through the makeshift SHIELD base surrounding the foreign object and give up when she could not retrieve it from the ground. When the metal behemoth attacked the small nearby town, Ward had ignored orders to stay put and tried to get there to help Skye. He hadn't made it in time, though, and watched from his vehicle as a bright beam struck down miles away in the distance and took her back to Asgard. As punishment for his risky actions in New Mexico, Ward was temporarily suspended from field work and was to spend time on security detail. This backfired when he managed to get himself on Tesseract duty with Dr. Selvig, who had spent time with Skye when she was on Earth. It had turned into more of a punishment for Selvig, who either had to put up with questions about Skye and Asgard and what he knew of it or put up with Ward looking out of the window like a hopeful little puppy. Coulson wondered if Ward would still be so intrigued by the goddess if he was aware that her brother had brainwashed him.

Another explosion shot from the scepter and blasted Coulson against one of the machines. Ward shot Fury and left with the others that had been affected by the scepter, including Selvig, led by Loki. Coulson pushed himself up and went to help Fury. The director groaned as he rose to his feet and grabbed his comms device.

"Hill, do you copy?"

Hill swore and took off after the car Agent Ward and a mysterious stranger had just taken off in. She _knew _something hadn't seemed right. As she sped away, Coulson helped Fury up and out of the building.

Strong tremors shook the facility. The ground fell in just as Coulson followed Fury into a helicopter. They spotted Ward's stolen Jeep continuing away from the destruction and sent the chopper flying after it. Several other SHIELD vehicles were chasing after them as well, but could not get very close while avoiding the firings of Loki's scepter. When the helicopter got near enough, Fury and Coulson began shooting. Loki sneered at them and sent a blast of energy at the aircraft. It began spiraling downward. The two men and the pilot managed to jump out before it hit the ground, but the crash and explosion stopped the other following cars. Fury watched as Ward's vehicle flew off the base and sped into the night.

"What now, Sir?" Coulson asked.

"It's time to pay visits to some old friends."

* * *

Coulson's quick footsteps echoed through the gloomy office area. The strong scent of ink hit his nose as he passed a busy copy room. Finally, through a sea of matching cubicles, he found it.

She may have been on desk duty, filing and organizing papers for a long time, but she had not lost her touch and knew it was him long before he stopped in front of her desk.

"Phil," she said shortly, finishing the stamping she was doing before looking up.

"Melinda," he grinned.

"I figured you would be busy with Fury after what happened."

"I am."

May gave him a hard look. "Phil, if you're –"

"I am."

He placed a file in front of her and stuffed his hands into his pockets. She looked up at him with dark eyes, but he just nodded towards the file. Finally, she gave in and opened it.

"So, are you in?" Coulson asked when she was done.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really, but for the sake of being friendly I thought I would try to make it seem like you did. Listen, May, we might not even need you in combat. Right now we're just gathering a team. We need your help with recruitment. You're good at convincing people."

May remained silent.

Coulson was pressed for time, so he cut to the information he had been saving. "Agent Ward has been compromised."

The tight expression she had been keeping fell. May had been a member of the team Coulson had died saving and after he was gone, she had been partnered with Ward for a while. They had been a good pair, even earning the title of Strike Team Delta. Coulson knew that the news of May's former partner being in trouble would get to her, but he could not know just how much it affected her under her stoic exterior. She and Ward had been in a relationship of sorts during their time working together. Although she was the one who put the boundaries on it, making it purely sexual with no strings attached, she could not deny to herself that she cared about him.

"Is this who we're recruiting?" she asked, pointing at the pictures in the file of a young male and female.

Coulson nodded. "Agents Fitz and Simmons. Well, we use the term 'agent' loosely with them beca-"

"I know. But do you really think we'll need…?"

"I don't know. Honestly, I hope we won't. Come on, I have a plane waiting outside. You'll be fully debriefed there."

May rose from behind the desk that had protected her for so long, from what she had done. She had made a promise to herself to never go back into the field, but she wanted to help Ward. More than that, though, she trusted Coulson, who had been there long before Ward, long before she was the Cavalry or Black Widow or whatever nickname for her was currently circulating around SHIELD. She owed him her life. May left her stacks of paperwork unfinished and left with Coulson, the file tucked under her arm.

It was stamped: **CLASSIFIED: AVENGERS INITIATIVE **


	2. Fitzsimmons

**Thank you all so much for all of the support on the first chapter! I am so glad that you guys like this idea and I hope this story can live up to the greatness of both Agents of SHIELD and the Avengers.**

May stepped out of the SHIELD van and up the walk to the door of the small house. A petite woman opened it and sighed at the flash of the agent's badge.

"_LEOPOLD!_" she called out at a surprisingly high volume for someone her size.

Footsteps hastened down the stairs with a quickness that could only be brought on by an angry mother.

"Yes, Mum?"

"What have you done now?"

Although this was the most entertaining thing May had seen in quite some time, she had to interrupt the terrified son's stammering. She stepped into the doorway and laid her eyes on the pasty, curly-haired young man that was Leo Fitz. He gulped at her uniform, noticing the SHIELD logos on her arms.

"Mum, I haven't done anything, I-I swear," Fitz said, and then turned back to May, "I _haven't _done anything…right?"

"You aren't in trouble. I am here because SHIELD needs your help."

Fitz crossed his arms. "You already took my suit. _And _all my equipment."

"It has been kept safe. But now the Iron Man needs his pilot."

Fitz's mother groaned. "Oh, no…"

* * *

"Should have got paid up front, Jemma."

Simmons sighed and then tensed, realizing she was not alone. The little girl had set her up. Great, now she couldn't even trust children. Coulson stepped out from the corner of the room, but although she easily recognized him, it did not calm Simmons' trepidation.

"For someone who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you sure picked a hell of a place to settle," Coulson said.

"Avoiding stress isn't the secret."

"Then, what is it? Yoga? Chamomile tea?"

Simmons ignored his cheeky small talk. "SHIELD found me, then?"

"We never lost you. We've kept our distance, even kept a few interested parties off your scent."

"…Why? I mean, after what happened, I would think SHIELD would be suing me for damages."

"Fury thought it would be best if you gained control over your condition in your own way, rather than being monitored or watched. He trusts you, but now he needs you to come in."

"Me or…_the other one_?"

Coulson smiled. "For now, just you."

Simmons sat down at the small wooden table and tried to stop her hands from trembling. She had spent the last three years running from the incident and its repercussions and now here was Phil Coulson, who shook her memories back to the forefront of her mind. When he was discovered, every scientist in SHIELD was working to create a way to create the serum that Fury wanted to give him, including Simmons, even though she was still in the academy. She wanted to be the one who figured it out and worked for several days straight, not going to class and not sleeping. Fitz had been her best friend and he warned her against it, but she was _so close _and couldn't stop. One evening, she had dragged Fitz down to a lab area to test it. She started with a rat, but it wasn't working. Fitz slumped down in a chair in the hall where he was supposed to be watching her through the viewing window. The sound of her screams woke him up some time later. He had run to the window, but it exploded in his face. Before losing consciousness, the last thing he had seen was a flash of green.

When she came back to herself, naked and shaking in the middle of a field, Simmons heard the sirens and saw the lights of helicopters. The academy was practically destroyed. Fitz was the one thought on her mind, but she was too terrified to go back. She could live in the Sandbox, which was where SHIELD would have probably put her, but she couldn't live if she had brought harm on Fitz. So she ran away and had darted across the world for years, going somewhere new whenever she got too comfortable or when her green counterpart made an appearance. The only joy she had had since that fateful night was when that bright red and gold man terrified the people of Scotland when it soared over them. Simmons had openly wept in the crowd of people watching the event on the only television in Calcutta because she _knew _it was him.

Coulson brought her back to the present by sliding his phone in front of her.

"This is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."

"And SHIELD wants me to…swallow it?" Simmons asked.

* * *

May had allowed herself to be led to the living room, mostly because she thought Ms. Fitz was going to pass out if they didn't sit down. After the mention of aliens, the poor mother had excused herself to go make some tea. May used her absence to finish telling Fitz the situation.

"So, this Loki guy is the brother of that hot lady from New Mexico?"

_Of course that was all he had gotten out of it._ "Yes," May said.

Fitz was definitely interested, May could see it on his face, but he glanced over at the kitchen with worry. He looked back at May and shook his head.

"I appreciate the offer, Agent May, but I don't think I can help you. I never even finished the academy."

"But you almost did," May countered, "And you would have graduated top of your class."

His expression went rigid. "I only would have been at the top because Simmons…left."

"SHIELD has the Iron Man equipment and if you don't agree, we have a lieutenant colonel with the Air Force in mind who would happily pilot the suit for us."

Now she had gotten him on the hook. May knew how men worked and how powerful their pride was. Fitz would never let his beloved invention be flown by anyone else. She watched him squirm as he tried to fight the desire to be with his suit once again.

He sighed. "If you could give me a few minutes, Agent May, I need to speak to my mum."

May nodded and went to wait in the car. About fifteen minutes later, the young man emerged with a bag. He hugged his mother goodbye and had the courtesy to wait until they had gotten around the corner to wipe the tears and lipstick stains off of his cheeks. The entire ride was silent, both wondering what exactly they had gotten themselves into.

* * *

"Have you heard of the Iron Man?"

She nodded. Everyone had heard of it, even in the third world countries she had been hiding in for years.

"Well, that was -"

"Fitz," Simmons finished, "I know."

"Do you know why he made it?"

"Because he is an amazing engineer." _And a show-off about it,_ she added to herself.

"Well, yes, no one is debating that, but he had a driving, more personal, purpose behind the suit," Coulson said, "He wanted to find you. It's all he's wanted, really, ever since…the incident. The Iron Man suit was in case the other one caused any problems when he got to you."

Simmons worked against the tears filling her eyes. Fitz was looking for her, even after all she had done. She hadn't listened to him, she had nearly _killed_ him, and she had let him down. It hurt her to think that he had wasted any of his precious time, any of the space in his brilliant mind on finding her.

Simmons tried to nonchalantly swipe the tears that were threatening to slip down her lashes, but Coulson noticed. He reached across the little table and put his hand over hers.

"You've been alone for a long time, Jemma, and I understand that you are scared, but we need you to try. Just come help us, do the Fitzsimmons thing, and we will take you back here, or anywhere you want, when you're done."

"Fitz is…?"

Coulson nodded, trying to hide his grin, because he knew that he had gotten her on board.


	3. Capturing Loki

Simmons stepped off of the quinjet behind Coulson, looking around the large boat they had landed on. Her companion paused to speak to another agent, so she wandered a few steps away to take in the full extent of the vessel. A line of training agents approached and she awkwardly stumbled around to avoid them and ended up near the edge of the ship.

"You may want to step inside," Coulson said, coming up beside her, "It's going to get a little hard to breathe."

The boat whirred strongly beneath them and the water on the edge began to churn as the engines started up.

"What is this, a submarine? They want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?"

Coulson just chuckled.

The cool ocean water sprayed their faces as the ship lifted up, rather than sinking further down.

Simmons smiled down at the engines pushing them into the air. "Oh no, this is much worse."

* * *

After Hill led Simmons to the lab she would be working in, Coulson stood by with Fury while they ran facial recognition to look for Loki or any of the men he had taken with him. They didn't have much hope at finding the Asgardian. He was probably very well hidden, if not already off of the planet. Suddenly, Agent Sitwell beckoned Coulson and the director over to his screen.

"We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Cross match, seventy-nine percent."

"Location?" Coulson asked.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse," Sitwell answered, turning to face them. "He's not exactly hiding."

"Send the coordinates to Agent May," ordered Fury. "Coulson, with me."

Coulson followed Fury through the helicarrier to a storage room. The director skillfully grabbed a labeled case from the shelves and handed it to his agent. Upon opening it, Coulson recognized the red, white, and blue.

"Sir?"

"This wasn't just some get-well-soon gag gift, Coulson. I know you have tried to go back to your normal life since your return, but there was nothing really normal before, and there sure as hell isn't now. If you're going to Stuttgart to get Loki, then you will want to be wearing this," Fury said, pointing to the outfit in the case. "Maybe if you had gotten yourself a better nickname you would have a better uniform."

Coulson lifted the garment, finding the helmet and shield carefully placed in foam beneath it.

"We have an understanding?"

Coulson nodded.

"Then suit up and get your ass to Stuttgart."

Fury left and shut the door behind him, giving Coulson privacy to change

"Captain America is a cool nickname," he muttered to himself as he undid his tie and kicked off his shiny black shoes.

* * *

"I just received new information on Loki's whereabouts," May called to Fitz from the front of their quinjet. "We are now en route to Stuttgart, Germany. Start getting ready."

Fitz nervously paced back and forth for a moment before his brain finally decided what to do. He was expecting a little more time before having to be face-to-face with a malicious Asgardian. SHIELD had brought his Iron Man suit and everything associated with it out of the Fridge, where it had been contained for safe keeping, and put it on the aircraft May took. Fitz looked over the gold and hot-rod red equipment, carefully inspecting for any scratches or other damage inflicted to his "baby".

When May said they were within five minutes of their destination, Fitz opened and closed his fists, pretending to be testing the suit's functionality again even though he had just finished that. His invention had never been in any combat, let alone combat from another world. He was terrified, and rightly so, but did not want to show that fear to May. He had the helmet come up to cover his face and the inside lit up.

"Welcome back, Fitz," said the automated voice inside the suit.

Fitz grinned, feeling a bit of his edge taken off at the AI's British female voice that sounded so close to Simmons'.

* * *

It was a little _too _easy to get Loki into custody. By the time Fitz got to the scene, Coulson was already fighting the god, fully bedecked in his Captain America uniform. All Fitz had had to do was aim all of his weapons at Loki and soon they were loading the surrendered Asgardian into the plane. The engineer was suspicious of how easily Loki had given up, but at least the malefactor had obviously not known that the Iron Man's "guns" were only ICERs filled with dendrotoxin. When Fitz had made the suit, he had made it with the intention of possibly having to knock the Hulk out to get Simmons, not shoot at her. He had never imagined his creation would actually be up against someone like the god sitting before him.

May looked on slightly worryingly at the sky that seemed to have produced storm clouds out of nowhere. Lightning struck down all around the plane. One flashed dangerously close and May jerked the quinjet to the side. Loki flinched.

"What's the matter?" Coulson asked. "Scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows…"

Something landed heavily on the top of the aircraft. Before anyone could react, the back ramp was forced open. A radiant dark-haired woman grabbed Loki by the throat and jumped back out.

"_What the hell?!_" Fitz sputtered. "Was-was that Skye?"

"Yep."

Coulson wasted no time. He pulled on a parachute and jumped out of the plane, his shield in hand.

"Phil!" May had yelled to try to get him to stop, then turned back to the cockpit and muttered. "Idiot."

Fitz stared into the black sky where the three had just vanished. This was too much. _This was way too much._ That was his last thought before he dove out after Coulson.

Coulson landed roughly on the mountainous area where Skye had taken Loki. He saw the woman pinning Loki down, yelling at him.

"Skye!" Coulson called out.

She whipped her head around and scarcely recognized the man she had met in New Mexico only a year previously. "Phillip, Son of Coul?"

"Yes. My people need to take Loki back into custody."

"He is coming with me. Back to Asgard, where he will pay for his crimes here."

Fitz came zooming up in a red blur, finally locating them. Skye threw Mjolnir and it got him right in the chest, taking him to the ground.

"What is this?" Skye demanded.

"It's okay," Coulson said. "He's with me."

Fitz's face plate lifted. "Bloody hell…," he groaned.

Skye lifted Mjolnir from Fitz's chest with an apology and helped him to sit up. Coulson's eyes drifted over to where Loki had, surprisingly, remained. He simply sat there watching the scene. It was unnerving.

"Let us take Loki in," Coulson told Skye. "And once we're done with him, you can take him wherever you want away from this planet."

* * *

Simmons looked up from her work to see a cluster of armed agents flanked around the captured god. As they marched him past, his gaze met hers and he grinned. She was glad to be called into the briefing room by Hill a moment later.

She sat with Coulson at her side. Skye stood behind them, watching the small screen, and it made Simmons a little tense.

On the screen, Fury was showing Loki into his prison.

"In case it's unclear - you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass…"

Fury pressed a button and the hatch under the glass case opened. It was miles down to the ground. The wind gusted loudly beneath the circular prison. Loki glanced down, not even the slightest bit fazed.

"Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" Fury asked.

He closed the hatch.

"Ant," he said, pointing at Loki, then motioned to the button. "Boot."

Loki smirked. "It is an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

Everyone in the briefing room seemed to shift awkwardly, except for Skye, who had no knowledge of the potential monster trapped inside the young woman sitting in front of her. Simmons did not look at any of them, just kept her gaze held on the screen while Loki and Fury spoke of desperation. Fury departed with the offer of a magazine. Loki looked directly into the camera until the screen went black. Skye turned away, lost in thought.

"What's his play, Skye?" Coulson asked.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any other world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"So he'll need another portal," Simmons determined. "One to get the Chitauri here. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for. But Iridium? What is the Iridium for?"

She seemed to be speaking to herself at this point, especially because none of the others could even try to offer an answer. Then, someone entered who could.

"It's a stabilizing agent," said a Scottish voice very familiar to Simmons.

She spun around with an apprehensive smile, not sure how happy he would be to see her, but swelling with happiness to see him. Fitz seemed a little taken aback, as though not completely certain she was really there. He had imagined her enough times to doubt himself. Once getting over the initial shock, he beamed.

"Jemma!" he breathed and swept her into a hug.

"Did you not tell him she was coming?" Coulson asked May, who had entered with Fitz.

She gave him a challenging grin. "I wasn't sure you would get her here."


End file.
